The LA Art Show was much expected by Artists and Collectors and Art lovers just the same. It was here and it is gone now. I was able to attend for a brief Saturday afternoon – and it was packed! I thought I was in some kind of futuristic Art version of Neiman Marcus … Not that Neiman was ever that packed with visitors. That was the curious part – apparently, the organizers did a wonderful job promoting it.

Most impressive part was the variety of Art and the presence of Chinese Artists and Galleries. Among the American Galleries, who are always present at every show like ABBY TAYLOR GALLERY (Boston) and LUREI GALLERY (Los Angeles) just to name a couple – the presence of Chinese art galleries was strong both as number of galleries and quality of Art. The Chinese traditional mastery was possibly the most impressive – A wonderdful large-scale portrait of an elderly lady stayed with me long after I left the show. Impeccable brushstroke – and emotion for detail. For the short time I was able to view the show – one other thing made an impression on me – very little sculpture. Almost nonexistent. Could it be that this means a Sculpture Art Show is in the making for 2014? Hmmm – Maybe next ART SHOW will have a special section exclusively for sculpture – Contemporary and Traditional Figurative…. In any case – LURIE GALLERYhad two California Artists, both dramatically different in their sculpture technique – Jon Krawzhyk -contemporary abstract medium, usually large scale and Daniele Matalon- traditional figurative third to half-life size bronzes. Daniele Matalon’s “Petra” is exquisite, sensual in a contained kind of way, and masterful in its execution. Daniele Matalon is a Sculptor, who started her career in early 2000. ‘Petra’ reminds me of a sculptural version of an Var5gas and Olivia’s glamourous pin-ups. To view the show , for you is a brief video on the Art Chronicle YOUTUBE channel( click on the red text to activate the link). See you soon!

I was asked often – Why did you sculpt the President?
The main inspiration behind the President’s sculpture portrait are Mr. Obama’s character, individuality and intelligence.
As an Artist – for portraiture, I am attracted to subjects, who posses a unique blend of character features, which are seemingly unrelated, but in reality are deeply interconnected. Mr.Obama’s features are of such nature. His contained radiance, his charisma stems from his deep belief and his deep caring for all Americans, regardless of age, financial status and color. This universal quality comes from the depth of his desire to awake the passion of millions and sparkle a call to action to make a difference –this is what made him inspirational.

When a person with such global vision ignites an idea, which comes from this love and compassion for all people – people follow. He managed to begin restoring the world’s respect and admiration for America – so tarnished during the previous presidency.
The historical fact that Barack Obama is the first black President is indisputable. This fact has a significance within our country and outside its borders. With in the US – it gave hope to all who have given it up – outside the US – his election proved to the world that America has changed and all the
shadows of the dark past were just that – shadows.

On a personal level – I have discovered subtlety in Mr. Obama’s character qualities, which make him more powerful. His kindness, his calm and collected demeanor blends with the resilience and enhances remarkable strength that he possesses. Artistically, I am only interested in the character of a subject, so I can give the sculpture a personal presence . In the case of Mr. Obama – this was not an easy task, since I have never met him in person. When I finished it in clay, one viewer made a remark , I will never forget “ Oh my God – he is ready to talk?”. This gave me the assurance that maybe I have accomplished my goal

That evening it was also the first time anyone would view the President’s Portrait in bronze. For all who viewed it that night, I hope I have created and image of a remarkable man, whose personal presence inspires and at the same time makes us ask ourselves questions. One question comes to mind: How far are we willing to go to make the United States of America the greatest country in the world once again? Are we ready ? Can we do it? We all know the answer.

The story of this portrait is probably most unusual and has more depth for me than anyone else. Our story started officially on June 3d. But it began a year before that. I have no intention of boring you with details of how I met Nick – but the truth is it was an accidental unexpected stroke of simple destiny. The suddenness, the beauty and the poetry of it – will stay with me forever. Instant bond. He had this inexplicable capacity to bring the best in people. Our connection ignited into a wonderful exchange of moments where we would literally finish each other’s thoughts.

On our first trip on Roamer III – he invited me for lunch. Lunch was an hour away by water from Marina Del Rey to Redondo Beach. In a warm California day in June, there is no better place to be than on water off the coast. The ocean at this time of the year is dark blue with playful ripples as far as the eyes can see. The coolness of the water, maintaining the steady 64 degrees Farenheit offsets the summer heat. This extravagant gesture was meant to impress me – and that it did ! Magnificent ocean views aside – on a purely intellectual level, I always had a fascination of Motor Yachts as well – their compact design, the aerodynamic grace, with which they are seeming gliding on the surface, while reaching depths to preserve balance. The inherent wisdom of their utility, where nothing must be in excess, except quality – the fine balance between necessities and luxuries. The lack of space was complimented by high quality of craftsmanship and ingenuous design. Like a giant jewelry box – everything in Roamer III was well maintained, despite the fact that she was ready to be retired.

I was very new at Yachting – and fascinated immensely – being at awe of the ocean to begin with. Roamer III was a lady. What a brave adventurer she was – a wanderer. She could be tosses left and right – but always maintained balance. (I believe it has a lot to do with technology on board.) Roamer and I were quickly became best friends. I loved the way the engine hummed away – while gliding through the surface of the water making its way towards the breakers. I had to learn the terminology – ‘top deck’ ‘starboard’ and ‘port’ – and at some point I even graduated to navigating it for an hour in open ocean and was able to dock Roamer back into her slot, without wrecking it !

That particular day – it was a beautiful day in June 9th in early 2000 – on top deck , on our way to Redondo Beach – I observed him very carefully . It was sheer joy to see Nick navigate or dock his 75 foot ‘Princess’, with focused and precise movements, that came so naturally to him. His profile was so distinctively British and hansome with the unruly long hair and bronzed skin. There was a remarkable unity between the color of his Celtic blue eyes and the color of the Pacific ocean at that moment. I marveled the moment – while he watched me be enthralled with the school of dolphins, that were racing the yacht. I wanted to remember this moment forever. He looked incredibly content in his reserved quiet kind of way – given away only by the glimmer in his blue eyes! I took some photos. This moment – the ocean, with all its blue power , the joy of dancing dolphins, Nick with his boundless passion for yachting and me – all in one place – will stay with me until my last day .

In the summer of 2005, I was getting ready for an art show and I wanted to make a sculpture portrait of Nick as a surprise. The thought stayed with me for a long time. It always takes me a while before I make a decision to sculpt or paint someone close. In spring 2005 I finally started. I decided to use water based clay, because it allowed me to work faster and achieve a more spontaneous effects. His long unruly hair was a challenge – but it worked out well. Nick was a passionate Contemporary Art Collector with rather avant-guarde taste and the portrait needed to reflect his persona and his visionary temperament. There was something inspirational about him, that does not lend itself to defining in words. I finished the piece on time and was able to cast it on time for the show. As the show approached – I was hoping Nick will come. He was out of town – in Cleveland, where he maintained a permanent residence – a place he loved very, very much and where he spent a great deal of time.

The Art reception and opening were on July 9, 2005. Attendance was fantastic – Tony Michaels piano virtuoso and Carol Chaikin on trumpet – filled the air with exquisite jazz improvisations; everyone had a wonderful time. The next two days brought great sales too. Reception was at the Balboa Bay Club, in Newport Beach. Nick did not come. He could not make it – he sent someone else instead as an act of grace. He always used to do this. His impeccable blue blood manners were his signature. After the show we talked a lot. A couple of weeks after the show we were planing to have dinner as soon as he returns from his short trip to London and Bordeaux, France. That was the last time we spoke.

He never went to France. Nor to London that month. He never even saw his portrait . Things developed with lightning speed. On August 19 – I received a call. Nick had undergone a six hour emergency operation, from which he did not wake up. It had happened the day before.

But the portrait, remained as a pure embodiment of that beautiful June afternoon, when the stars were aligned and the world was happy – Nick was happy – and I was extatic. He literally changed my perception of life. He brought out the best in me. That moment – I try to capture in his subtle smile. His head is tilted, looking down at the rotor handling with absolute precision the Read the rest of this entry »

One cannot not notice once in a while a giant among us. A giant, that is the same height, same stature like everyone of us – only his mind and his prolific resume make him a giant. Meet Tony Gragg. An unbelievably prolific sculptor – in a class of his own.

Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool, England in 1949. Internationally recognized as one of the leading abstract sculptors of his generation, Cragg has produced a highly influential body of work centered on the manipulation of shapes and surfaces as they relate to the human environment. Using such diverse materials as bronze, glass, and found objects, Cragg has created enigmatic works that meld bio-morphic shapes with otherworldly textures. In 1988, Tony Cragg was awarded the Turner Prize from the Tate Gallery, London, England. Tony Cragg has exhibited in museums throughout the world including The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; The Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas; the Tate Gallery, London, England; Musee National d’Art Moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Wiener Secession, Vienna, Austria; and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain.

London Art Award nomination Tony Cragg: ‘I’m not a religious person—I’m an absolute materialist—and for me material is exciting and ultimately sublime. When I’m involved in making sculpture, I’m looking for a system of belief or ethics in the material. I want that material to have a dynamic, to push and move and grow.’

The Telegraph: “His move away from assemblage towards a material freighted with art-historical baggage could well have made Cragg look antediluvian. But as a show at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art reveals, over the last 20 years Cragg not only faced the challenge but revelled in it, making bronzes that weigh many tons, and yet look as though they’d been freed from the laws of gravity and inertia, zigzagging giddily upwards, as vertiginous in their verticality as Brancusi’s Endless Column. In these amazing sculptures Cragg appears at times to be engaging in a private conversation with the great masters of early 20th-century sculpture.”

Cragg: “There is this idea that sculpture is static, or maybe even dead, but I feel absolutely contrary to that. I’m not a religious person—I’m an absolute materialist—and for me material is exciting and ultimately sublime. When I’m involved in making sculpture, I’m looking for a system of belief or ethics in the material. I want that material to have a dynamic, to push and move and grow.

“I also want that to happen over the course of making things, so that as soon as one generation of sculptures has gone up, another generation is coming on and things are growing up around me. That’s how it seems to work for me.”

The Liverpool-born visual artist is currently the director of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, and has lived in Germany since 1977. He won the Turner prize in 1988, and for his services to art received a CBE in 2002. He also opened a sculpture park in Wuppertal, Germany. All his sculptures are handmade, and he is well-known for scorn of factory-made art; likening non-handmade works to relatives that one has never met.

Wow ! What a title! How did it come to coin this name, someone asked me once…

Here is how this name came to be one of my most cherished paintings….CHAOS & TRUTH. It started one summer in early 2000. Summers in Southern California can be scorching – especially for some of us, born in moderate European continental climate across the ocean. The trees in my luscious mini forest – seem to take it better than the patio, which is turning into an oven for many hours a day.

I had just begun to experiment with large scale abstract painting, as a diversion from the endless and tedious hours of sculpting. In large scale paintings – every layer consumes a great deal of paint and needs to dry completely before the next layer be applied. So – the more I experimented – the more time it needed to dry. The temperature is never the same – so all I could control in the process was the time, not the exposure. Eventually, the frames that I especially create for each piece, stays for great periods of time- waiting its turn to be completed.

In reality – these new large scale abstract pieces are as much of a creation of the Sun as they were by me. Really! The temperature makes its own changes on that particular layer – sometimes they are spectacular in its effect! Other time – not so much. In these cases – you have to start over form that point on. This is the spontaneous part I like. Constant discovery!

One time – I had imagined a very large, sprawling canvas, that is very gentle at the sale time…I wanted to make a piece that is very large, horizontal, that has this strong, but calming presence. I make my own frames – it is an involved physical, a little tough – but while I am laying out the wood and the fabric – it gives me time to put even more thought in the end result. So I built the frame 36″ by 120″ and let is wait. I used a very fine , but strong blend of linen and silk. I believe in integrity – when you create something – make sure it is genuine to its core – including the materials. The purity of material is important to me, whether it is sculpture or a painting.

One summer passed – the large frame stayed untouched. The next summer I did one layer. Another summer passed. Then – 3 years later – I put it outside, where I usually work under the blue sky – and I let my imagination free.
Then one afternoon – in 2009 I had this moment of discovery and innovation. I was ready to do something entirely different from the ZEN SWIRLS I first did in 2000. And right there , on the ground – next to the blossoming orange trees – I started layering the spontaneity of many years of suppressed intentions to complete for this piece.

The more my determination grew – the softer I wanted it to look! Somehow it always takes more effort to make something that looks effortless…
Like the ancient hieroglyphs – which express and entire event – not just a single thing! It is almost impossible to register the thoughts that were occupying my mind at that time. At this moment, you may say – this is my own private performance. It is full of emotions, joy, wonder, discovery, impatience, – it runs the gamut of human expression. Then you wait a few hours, because the heavy layers need to settle and be protected from everything – from falling orange blossoms petals –to the tiny cute faced lizard, who live under a near by decorative rock to a wanderer squirrel or a cat, who see this is just a part of the yard , only wet and slippery …
If one had a glimpse of the scene, while I was doing this painting – it would have been quite baffling to the unknowing eye – the scene would have been closer to a dance, than to painting, simply because of scale. And that is maybe the reason why each of these large scale paintings have so much meaning for me.

In a few hot summer days in 2010 I managed to complete CHAOS & TRUTH. There was this gentle lace-like effect, when you look from a distance; when you come close to explore in depth – it transforms itself into an organic universe with unexpected spatial depth, impossible to describe. In the end – this canvas is as appealing vertical as it is horizontal.

The truth is – this piece is very dear to me. It took years to complete. And I fulfilled my goal – to have a complex large scale painting, that changes with the distance it was viewed. And the chaos, that preceded its completion was simply a precursor for a truth, that emerged in the end.

Isn’t that always the case – Truth always emerged from Chaos.
Chaos always preceded the Truth.And that is my very own story behind this piece! Hope you enjoy it!

Yours truly, Tsvetana for TheArtcChronicle

PS. The CHAOS & TRUTH is featured in a DVD, which showcases in videoart the paintings of Tsvetana Yvanova. The idea is to find a brand new way to experience the viewing of art – a very artistic way of viewing . This DVD selection is available for the first time on Amazon.com.

Seems that the New Year 2012 – The Year of the Dragon – starts off with a splash for the Art world! With new ideas, new shows, new enthusiasm, and a new format for the show! It is actually three shows in one – read on – and most of all ATTEND! Seeing the work of so many creative powerhouses can be a very spiritual experience …It is for me! I remember in past Art shows – how impressed and moved I was by the transformational power of Art – especially the Los Angeles Company, The LA ArtMAchine-- who channels the talents of local Graffiti Artists to elevate their ideas to a new plateau. This transforms lives. ART transforms lives. Art has the power to save! Better than religion, better than politics and certainly better than wars . Art and Love has always been intertwined in literature in poetry. It is because it is in the very core of our DNA to create. Creativity is based on light, truth and has a power, that transforms. You may disagree – but you know I am right. Read on!

Join David Arquette and LA’s top collectors and benefactors for an evening celebrating creativity, diversity, and charity. Enjoy culinary, visual, and cultural delights as well as the unique compelling artistic expressions of Jim Dine, Ed Ruscha, Gorky, Thiebaud, Warhol, Botero, Guy Rose, Picasso, Camille Pissarro, Renoir, and more. Participate in the must-attend event of the year, support the community, and enjoy a magical evening of art.

An installation by performance artist Mark Mothersbaugh, who will debut a much anticipated artwork combining sculpture and music in an interactive experience.A special re-creation of The Myths of Rape, originally performed in 1977 by Leslie Labowitz-Starus as part of Three Weeks in May. This unique event is part of Three Weeks in January, a new work by Suzanne Lacy presented by LACE as part of Pacific Standard Time.

CHINA PAVILION:Classic Buddhist Paintings: A Retrospective of Xia Jingshan. This unprecedented exhibit in the US will feature a retrospective of important works by this renowned Chinese master brush painter and will introduce the work of Xia Jingshan’s preeminent student Tong Hongsheng, bringing the voice of the next generation of the master’s Beijing-based school, Xia Xue, to light.

The exhibition will also showcase the re-creation of an elaborate reading room of an antique Qing Dynasty wooden home from Southern China.

THE ART OF KRISTAN MARVELL

Kristan Marvel’ s sculptures derive from a technique, which he developed and has worked with over the last twenty years, that he calls spontaneous carving. His bronze sculptures begin as monolithic chunks of Styrofoam. As a stone carver has marble, Marvell has Styrofoam. The sculptures evolve as Marvell pulls and manipulates large hot wires through massive blocks of Styrofoam. This process allows for the improvisational removal of material and produces a unique visual vocabulary. Also, Styrofoam, a material devoid of sensuality, an industrial emblem, is in a sense corrected and made sensual as it progresses towards its transformation into bronze.
Through this visual vocabulary Marvell explores the confrontation between the natural, the organic, and man’s manipulation and reconstruction of the world.
On the most obvious level, the natural landscape is used as a point of inspiration, a visual ode to the raw power of its geological beauty. The work acknowledges and utilizes nature’s ability to elicit emotional transcendence. However, the sculptures are not replicas of natural formations. As a sculptor, Marvell, is interested in thematic or formalist concepts such as the relationship between mass and density, or volume and spatial balance. He likes the enigma of creating sculptures where mass is levitated in unusual ways, where unwary fragility is able to bear great weight. By way of modernist formal concerns the work references the concept of man’s transformation of nature through the intellectual event of manipulation.
As the eye wanders the sculptural planes, there is a sparseness, a focused control of surface and texture, in which the hand of the artist is evident. In that organization of space, a thoughtful and heart felt integrity emerges, imbuing the sculptures with emotion and grace, reaffirming the power of the object.

About The Art Chronicle

The Principal of The Art Chronicle, Tsvetana Yvanova,
is an active and multifaceted Artist, Sculptor, and a Designer. The Bulgarian born artist has studied
Fine Art with Prof. Angelakov of the Art Academy "Nickoloay Pavlovich", while she earned her Masters degree in Landscape Architecture. Attending the accredited MBA program at Graziadio School of
Business, Pepperdine University has had a profound
effect on her understanding the dynamics of art and business. Influences like Christo, Franz Klein, Andy
Warhol and Architects John Lautner and Tadao Ando,
have left their mark on the aesthetic credo of
Tsvetana as an artist. Since 2005, Tsvetana Yvanova's work was presented in four individual exhibitions
throughout California. The Art Chronicle is an online publication of Tsvetana Yvanova Fine Art.